hello, everyone. i'm don lemon. our focus today is health care. that's why we're reporting from atlanta sene tellian park. just wrapped up a short time ago, it could be summed up with one line, hands off my health care. it is the biggest town hall so far. it is one of the many events focused on president barack obama's effort to reform the nation's health care system. and then from here in the east, to chicago in the heartland, to colorado and california, out

west, the health care debate has everybody talking today. critic, supporters, and even the president, president barack oba obama, we're hearing that it was supposed to start a little bit later at 6:00. it could start at any moment now we're being told by officials that town hall could start earlier. so any time within the hour. you see the countdown block, president barack holds a rare weekend town hall in grand junction, colorado. and of course we'll bring that to you live as soon as it happens. it was supposed to start at 6:15, but again, it could happen any time. we'll bring it to you. again, today's rally here was called hands off my health care. so joining me now to explain what that means is alan hartigan of america's town hall and cheryl galloway, the interim director for americans for prosperity. how do you feel about the town hall today? do you think it was successful? >> absolutely. it was a great event. we put this together in four weeks to have a crowd of 5,000 people in four weeks, is just

phenomenal. over 20 organizes were represented. you helped out with that, i spoke to you earlier, you were part of organizing events as well as tea parties. how do you feel about what happened here today? >> i love to see the energy here. it's hot, august day, everybody was burning up. but there was a lot of enthusiasm and energy. people are glad to be able to tell their view, their side of the story. what they want to see washington do. i love seeing that people were ve responsive. i gave a speech to positive alternatives and people were enthusiastic about that as well. >> even on such a hot day, it was interesting to see how many people came out here. but from thevent these guys organizes here today, across the country, we've been hearing from people standing up and saying, we don't like what's going on with this health care rewe don't like really what's gol going on with a lot of things in the country. but mostly about health care. some of the people here today, the guys that were here today,

they voiced their opinion about what they thought was wrong with health care and what they thought about the government not listening to them. take a listen to two of the people here, or one of the people here today. >> i started with all the bailout money, you know, it's just ballooned from there. they keep spending money and spending money and spending money, it's going to come to andy. the best thing do is to nip it right now. and let's go back to the constitution and let's thank america first. >> so you said it started will baitout money, for you it's not partisan. >> it's not partisan, no. >> it was not partisan. i did not agree with george bush on all the bailouts. it's not partisan at off. that's what capitalism is all about. let's let the free market take care of it. if we keep bailing out, and bailing out, where does it end.

it just keeps going on and on. >> so again, i was right the first time, two people who were not happy with what's happening in the country. they say. as i mentioned, the president is going to be speaking in just a short time in grand junction, colorado. this is a second town hall meeting in two days. as we said at the top of the show, rare weekend appearance by the president to peek out against it. so you know just how important it is to the country. i want to go right now to the ground where the president is going to be. joining me from there is ed henry, she in grand junction, what are you seeing where you are, ed? >> crowd here expecting about 1,600 people at central high school in grand junction, colorado, not necessarily a completely friendly territory for the president. we saw a small group of protestors on our drive in and they had most of them had signs to the effect of we don't want socialism, don't want obama care, that kind of thing. you see that outside some of these town hall events. i think the signal that the white house aides say the president is trying to send is that look in the campaign last year, he came to these kinds of

areas in the mountain west that democrats had given up. he did pretty well. he came up short in montana but came close. much closer than many people thought, so they say look, now he wants to show that even if some people in these areas may disagree with him, he wants to go in and have a thoughtful conversation, reasoned debate in comparison to some of the town hall meetings we've seen across the country. what he's going do at the top is lay out why he thinks there needs to be insurance reform, that's his big folk occur, just to say you have insurance are doesn't mean you're safe and secure, you could lose that coverage. secondly, he'll take questions for about an hour, we're told. these tickets were distributed randomly on the internet. people were able it to sign up. they didn't have control over democrats or republicans got them. just as we saw yesterday, just one or two tough questions in montana at a town hall meeting, for people coming at it from the other side. the president could get tough questions from the other side today as well. as you noted at the to we are

getting information are from white house aides. ed president is very early, touring yellowstone national park with his wife and two daughters earlier today. they saw old faithful, they wrapped that up tour up a little early and he's going to be here about a half hour early. we think he's going to start 5:45 eastern time. so he's going to be taking questions yet again on this very, very important subject, don. >> you know, ed, he could come earlier. this president is moan for being early. he makes a joke about that. listen, i want to ask you, you know, the president out on a weekend, usually presidents will take the weekend off to sort of get some energy for the coming week ahead. but just because i think this has been a groundswell across the country and this issue is so important, the president is now taking his weekends to do these town hall s and to address peope around the country. >> you're right to highlight that. when you talk to white house aide aides, th say this is at

stage now because the nation is finally paying attention to it with all the town hall meetings from across the country with leaders in both parties, number one. number two, when congress comes back to work at the beginning of september, there's going to be a very narrow window for the president to strike a bipartisan deal. he has set a deadline for the end of the year when congress comes back in september, they're going to be working again on health care but have to move on to climate change legislation, spending bill, there's all kinds of other stuff to get to. so there's a very narrow window in september for the president to strike a bipartisan deal. that's why he's putting all the chips in here. working on the weekends an treating this like a campaign. yesterday at a town hall, he said i need to you knock on doors, try to rally people to this cause, almost like it's a campaign. you've got democratic groups running ads supporting the president as well as the groups on the other side against the president. final lirk as you say, kobtsing to do town hall meetings over the weekends in various state it shows he realizes in fact this

is a critical, critical time for him to try to get this done, don. >> all right, ed henry is with the president there in colorado and he will be joining us in grand junction, colorado. he's going to stick around and guide us through this. again, a quick reminder. president obama town hall gets under way live here. we're counting down, we'll bring it to you live as soon as it happens here. let's bring my guests in real quickly. ed henry, who is our white house correspondent said the president is out today because you know, he's got to get this wrap on this. and then when congress comes back, they've got a very, very short window not only to tackle this issue but the other spending bill and the other issue he is facing as well. he wanted this done by the end of the year but you know, he's under a deadline here. >> well, i think she. it's a self-impose d deadline i believe bought american people i think and what this is about today, they want other ideas coming in. they feel like they are being

told what's going to happen to them and not being asked what should happen to them or what should be done for them. >> virginia, you and i talked about this earlier. you've been seeing the images across the country with the town halls and people yelling, scream, violence. whatever none of that happened today. very few people with negative signs. >> right. >> do you think that right now, we're getting beyond the point where people are screaming at their legislators and having a more thoughtful sort of approach to this dialogue, question, answers, that sort of thing. >> i think the people that showed up here today, they were relieved to be heard. you know, they haven't been heard in this debate. the average ordinary american are citizen has not had a chance to voice their opinion about this. so this gave them that outlet. so i think that when they get that chance, they're much calmer, more civil, than sometimes they are when they feel like no one is listening or maybe the truth isn't being told to them. some of them have done a lot of

research, read the bill, they know what's in there. so when a congressman stands up there and says, oh that's not in the bill, they say oh, page 14, they start to feel a little upset at that point. but i did want to abe at deadline thing, i grew up with this thing in my household, anything worth doing is worth doing right. so this rush, rush, rush, rush through this bill because the president has a deadline. that's deadline that the president set. that's an artificial deadline. it would be great, i think, for him to instead of doing town halls that are hand picked and chosen of people who want to ask him hard questions, that he would have more of a listening approach. and a bipartisan approach because there have been other ideas floated that were very good. >> the town hall that was held later on in the week, they said it was first come first serve and it wasn't hand picked. he took some hard questions there. here's my thing. looking at some of the language that's written when for the

invitations these to these things. defeat the democrats this or stamp this out. why is it a defeat -- why is it bipartisan, for saying here's are what the country really need, let's sit down and talk about what the country needs. we're not fighting against anything, but we're trying to get universal health care for all, a fair health care system. do you disagree with that? >> first of all, we don't know that the american are people want a universal system. >> i should say health care coverage for everyone. that's a moral imperative. everyone should have health care coverage. >> everyone wants good health care for their children, theirselves and the families. i think problem comes in with one, who's going to make the decisions and, two, how are we going to pay for it. when we were putting this event together, we wanted to make sure that wasn't a beat up back session. that doesn't do any good and buttie wanted to come back and take a broader look at the issues. that's why we included doctors and insurance agents and professionals. we talked about people out there

on the cut edge of researching this thing. >> let's be honest. you got jabs in though today. come on. >> there are some very real anger, it doesn't help when you have people on the democratic side that are saying that people are villain, the insurance agents are villains or that these are rent amobs or broobs brothers mobs. those kind of comments don't help to defuse the situation. >> thank you. these gits are here, it thank you for being so honest with us. we also had a person to started hands off my health care on twitter. you can go there, the guy who started this, we're going to talk to him about the response he's gotten, he says it's overwhelming. it's unprecedented and it actually made a difference, is making all the difference in this health care reform debate that is going on across the country. again, a quick reminder for you, president barack obama's town hall will get under way in the next hour. he's in grand junction, colorado. we're counting down the minuts,s

we'll bring that to you live when it. happens. you're going to to hear all of it when it starts right here at 5:45. when it comes to health care, there's o.j. out there and so much to cover. an hour just isn't enough. check out cnn.com/healthcare. we list town hall meetings across the country and how health care reform might affect you no matter where you live. stick around, we've got it all covered for you, we're talking to the people organizing health care events here and a across the country. also awaiting the president here. also there are things heating up in the tropics where the weather is concerned. jacqui jeras is going to take care of that, track the storms for you. again, twitter, facebook, myspace or ireport.com. what is it, hands off health care. tell us what you think about that. mericans

who do not refill their prescriptions on time. readyfill at cvs pharmacy automatically refills my prescriptions and reminds me to pick them up. you mean, reminds me to pick them up. [ chuckles ] stop by your local cvs pharmacy to ask if readyfill is right for you, and get a $25 coupon book. readyfill, only at cvs pharmacy.

all right, let's look at where health care reform stands right now. three house committees are working on separate version of the legislation, that will have to be merged into one bill for the house to vote on. on the senate side, two committees are working on reform plans, those would also have to be merged into a bill to go from before the full senate. then they work out differences between the house an senate version. if the final bill passes it goes

to president obama for his final signature. so this is important to be what is debateded on capitol hill there, is lot of hard legislative work being done here. i want to bring these two guests n dr. rainy whitfield is a family practitioner in baton rouge, louisiana. my hometown. thank you for joining us. >> hey. >> he is founder of the hip-hop healthy coalition. in the interest of full discloe, he supplements his practice with speaking engagements. then there is dr. kent holt, an internist and founder of the holter medical group in los angeles. he did he rivals all of his income from his practice. thank you so much for joining us here today, guys. real quickly, before i get to the questions here, what do you make of this debate going on around the country? >> well, it's interest iing. everyone wants health care reform for different reasons. but we find a lot of patients

are so frustrated with the insurance model their premiums are going up but the care is going down. what you find even like a doctor's visit five years ago, averaged 16 minute, now it's less than 6 minutes. we see even common conditions. yeah are not being treated adequately. >> i want to get dr. whitfield in here as well. because i want to get to some people's concerns and questions. >> i agree with the doctor. quality has gone down, accessibility is not there. what we're talking about now is not health care reform. we're talking about health insurance reform. we have to start somewhere. the public option is going to create competitiveness in the marketplace and allow us to have some options. i wish i could do the model that dr. holtorf has with the cash only but i don't have the patient base to do that. most of my patients -- >> let me comment on that real quick. actually, we're cash is where medical savings accounts are great idea.

it empowers patients. costs down by 70%. labs that basically charge, we can get them down 70%. c.a.t. scans, 70% less. but the problem is that typically you need catastrophic care, but when someone goes with the medical savings account, they charge five times as much, hospitals ten times as much. you negotiate them down and it's 70% less. >> right. do do doc, i think we're agreeing. >> i want to compartmentalize these questions here to get's concerns is. one concern is single pay, cash, all that. we're going to get to that. the one i'm hearing though as well is we're talking about euthanasia or euthanizing older people. i thought it was just rhetoric that people were just saying that and i was hearing it on the radio and television and what have you. but there were people who came up to me in the crowd and one of them was this woman.

let's listen to what she said. >> my concern is rationing. i do believe that ultimately this will lead to that. i've been in the health care business for probably 20-some odd years explain what you mean by rationing? >> i believe that people later in life will be euthanized at some point. >> you think people will be killed? >> i do. yes. i think we're head toward that. >> i also am worried about the cost. how can we pay for this? we can't even pay for what we already spent. >> there you go. i'll let you start first, dr. holtorf. i don't think this country will start to euthanize people. we don't do that here in america. is that true? is her kaern legitimate concern? >> the big problem is there is so much money being spent in the last year of life. about 70% of the health care dollars goes to that, but the

problem is you don't know what that last year is. someone in the icu needs extraordinary care to live, they don't live, that was wasted money, but if they live ten more year, that wasn't waestd, especially if that was your family member. it's a tricky situation because you can't tell the future of a particular patient. >> is that just, using those word, euthanize, you're concerned, because you said 70% of health care you use in the later years of your life, but saying that it's euthanizing people, is that really going too far with the terminology? maybe the health care reform bill needs to be adjusted where you use, as much as you can on that part, but is it fair to say that people are going to be euthanized? >> i didn't that's fair at all. we need -- there is going to be rationing. there's always rationing of care. it's a very political word right now. and it's interesting, with rationing, everyone wants it, unless it's for them. >> yeah, it's a hot button word. >> it is.

>> let's talk to dr. whitfield about that go ahead and weigh in. i heard what dr. holtorf said about that what do you think? >> that's rhetoric. people aren't understanding what's actually in the bit. there's nothing that talk talks about euthanasia. what physicians are concerned about are medicare cuts and rebirsmentes. i have problems referring my patients out to specialists because they're not being referred properly. what needs to be addressed is medicare reimbursements and how we're going to be reimbursed. don, if we can't have single payer, the public option is fwl going to be a great way to go people are being denied insurance now because they're pre-existing, they're sick, or freedom yurms canceled. there are physician whose just want to take care of patients. i had a patient denied diabetic education for some ron. so i had to take time out of my practice to write a letter and get this patient approved for diabetic education. again, the cash pay model is

great, but in my patient population where individuals are functioning the or below the poverty level, they're not able it afford a $300 office visit that includes labs, ekg and chest x-rays. they need to receipt and feed their families. so it's not realistic for all individuals to have that type of system. >> just a one word answer. euthanasia, is that a bit much,? do you agree with we should tamp that down a little bit. >> definitely. >> i don't think that's a fair word to use. >> i agree. >> dr. whitfield you agree with that. >> definitely. >> that part is fiction or somewhere in the middle. you're talking about rationalizing health care. 70% of health care being used at the end of life. maybe we should get rid of the word euthanize and call it what it is. change that. so when you get to be an older person. then you get to use your health care in a way that you deem should be, it should be used. so good. we've gotten to the truth about that one. thank you very much.

i want to you stick around here throughout the hour, we're going to take more of your questions. it really have hot out here in atlanta, georgia and all of my guests can attest to that parched. need some water. president obama's health care me meeting starts at 5:45 it could start at any minute. we're getting to the truth. getting to the bottom of what's going on with health care reform and trying to get away pretty rhetoric and get american people what they need to hear, what's true and what's false about this. stick around. also weather heating up. the tropics specificly. there are two storms strengthening out in the atlantic. jacqui jeras is in the cnn hurricane headquarters tracking the storms for us.

>> i'm don lemon live at centennial olympic park in atlanta, build as one of the biggest town hals on health care. just happened short time ago. it just finished up, it was called america's health care town hall. thousands of people showed up today to voice their opinion on health care and other issues they say the government is getting too involved in their lives, too involved in their health care and spending their money. they voice their opinion today right here centennial olympic park. there are radio hosts out here. there were doctors who were out here. dick armey was out here, the house's former majority leader for the house.

everyone speaking out about health care. we're going to fill you in on exactly what happened here today and what's happening across the country as we wait on the president who is speaking in grand junction, colorado. i want to toss it now to jacqui jeras who is in the severe weather center. the atlantic hurricane season is here. so hello to tropical storm anna. you're keeping an eye on >> that yeah. just like this, don. quiet thus far, suddenly, two named storms now. i want to show them on the big picture because they're very close to each other. just to give you a better perspective, they're thousands of miles away from the u.s. literally. here's tropical storm ana. then back behind it, bill. now they're very different storms, however, even though their intensity is the same, this closer view will show you ana, a much smaller, more concentrated storm. back here, we have tropical storm bill. this is a larger storm, with a lot more potential to become a

stronger system in the upcoming days. in fact, the forecast has it officially becoming a hurricane in probably three days' time. there you can see the forecast track for ana, strengthening very slowly over the next couple of days. if you live in the gulf coast, or on the east coast, you need to be prepared for this one as it heads up, maybe a mid-week storm. it's still too early to tell if we see u.s. landfall, then as we advance to the next one, as we head into, there we go, tropical storm bill. there you can see that one developing into a stronger storm and likely the first hurricane of the atlantic season. now there's one other area we're a little bit concerned about, right now, we don't think it's going to turn into a named system but we have lots of shower and thundershower activity here off the florida coast that is going to be moving northward, so look for a lot of rainfall in the next couple of days. our second top weather story for today, the wildfires that continue to turn across parts of california. these pictures from yuba county, california. we literally have about five large fires which are burning,

thousands of people have been evacuated and thousands of acres have been scorched. weather, of course, the concern with independent weres gusting around 20 miles an hour for today. and don, my one other weather note for you. your heat index, 92 degrees, so yeah, you should be sweating out there. >> should be sweating? you don't know the half of it, jacqui jeras. >> are you wearing short sleeves? >> i had short sleeves on, i just wanted to be respectful and appropriate. but i think i've got to be respectful and appropriate of the weather so i probably should have worn short sleeves today. all right, jacqui, thank you very much. we'll get back to you if there are more developments on trorp a ana. i want to bring in bob goldberg who is on hands off my health. >> on twitter, absolutely. >> the reason i'm bringing him in, the social media, a lot of the story, the social media play really big roles in it. bob goldberg says the same thing with hands off my health care on twitter. you said so far 26,000 responses

to the white house from this. >> we have a total of 60,000 that have basically sent in a message to the white house that they prefer personal choice than a public option to reform health care. and we have something called tweet the pledge, which is 26,000 basically sent to the white house with the same mess. >> a what are people basically saying as a tweet or send messages to the white house? >> there's two things. one is let's slow down, let's hear what the people have to say about how to use all the money in the system. let's try to use different technologies, the technology of the internet, actually, social media to create different approach approaches health care for different communities because we're all one nation but everyone has different health care needs. we've got some very interesting responses. i tweet but i also follow what's going on. and the people have very, very interesting ideas. we have a diversion range of people, people from india, for

example. >> that's probably the biggest town hashlgs but when you have people from around the world, log on to twitter or facebook or cnn.com, that is a the biggest town hall you can have and the biggest conversation. are you hearing anything from the administration? >> well, they have all our e-mails but we haven't heard back. i have friend, by the way, in the administration. >> and they're aware of if. >> they are aware of it. they do follow it. there isn't anything by the way, insidious about it. they have their view about how to do health care. but they do acknowledge there are difference of opinion. >> overall, as pie said, i talked to you guys about this, when the media comes out and they see like signs or screaming or yelling or someone with a gun, that's what the pictures are going to be and ultimately it distracts from the real issue on this. online is a way really to get past all of that and to get people's real concerns about what is going on. do you think that there are great ideas that are coming from the social media that we are not hearing when we go to these town

halls? >> well, yeah, actually, ellen, i was introduced to ellen through the internet, through social media. alan is sitting next to you, and virginia. they are part of the organizers here today. >> we got some very good ideas about from india about how to let people that are very, very poor use something called microcredits to design their own health care plans, using the internet and technology. >> i'm going to talk about mi o microcredits and the doctors with that. we're in a time crunch because the president is going to speak. i want to thank bob goldberg. go on twitter.com/don let mon c, if you have a question p or a question for our doctors. and also hands off my health care as well. we appreciate you sticking around with us. standing by to bring you live coverage of. our extensive coverage on health

care continues this hour. we have ed henry standing by and also ali velshi is on the road in the cnn express. we'll find out what he is hearing bumping along from people all over the country. boss: so you've been doing a nice job out there

helping people save money on car insurance. gecko: aw thank you, sir. boss: but i think there are a few other things you can say about what a reliable company geico is. gecko: right. uh, well maybe how geico's the third-largest car insurance company in america? nice tidbit there. boss: exactly. and i've been thinking, looking a bit more businesslike might help too. gecko: oh my. uhhh, no it's, what's, what's the word... vogeico. 15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more on car insurance. the gold delta skymiles credit card... from american express... it's the official card... largest airline. of the world's and it's the only credit card... that earns miles on delta. miles that take you... to more places than ever before. over 350 destinations worldwide.

so switch today. get up to 25,000 bonus miles-- good for a free flight. call now to apply. there's no annual fee for the first year... and you can redeem... with no blackout dates or seat restrictions. these are just a few of the benefits... of carrying the official card of delta air lines. switch now and you can earn miles... on delta with your purchases: groceries, gas, entertainment, and more. get up to 25,000 bonus miles... with the gold delta skymiles credit card. call 1-800-skymiles to apply. this is the official card... of the world's largest airline. hot! hot! hot! time to check your air conditioning? come to meineke now and get a free ac system check. at meineke, you're always the driver.

hello, everyone. don lemon reports live from centennial olympic park in downtown atlanta where a big health care town hall just wrapped up a short time ago. we're standing by to talk about what happened here and what people are wanting to hear from the president, who is going to be in grand junction, colorado, he's having a rare weekend town hall there. there's a look at the stage for you in grand junction where the president will be speaking in colorado again, rare saturday event that highlights the sense of urgency facing mr. obama and members of congress as they try to shift public opinion in favor of their vision for health care reform. there are town hals going on across the country today from

the president's event in colorado to places like california, illinois, and as i said, right here in georgia. the president's event within minutes away so we'll bring that to you as soon as it gets started. i want to bring in alan hardage, the director of america's town hall and a virginia galloway, she's the interim state director for americans with prosperity. also with suss dr. ronny whitfield, a family practitioner in baton rouge, louisiana, founder of the hip-hop coalition and dr. holtorf from los angeles. really quickly, alan, what do you want to hear from the president today when he speaks to people? >> i would like to hear from the people. i would like to hear the president taking questions from everyday citizen, unrepaired, offer the cuff, from the heart and actually have him address those issues. hear those concerns and talk to them directly. >> virginia, we're going to talk to you as well. and our doctors. so stick around, we've got this all covered for. i want to get to the ground now,

grand junction, colorado, our senior white house correspondent, i don't want to disrespect him, mr. ed henry, what's going on? >> the motorcade literally just arrived behind me, this is some of the press and pool with the president coming n he had been at yellowstone national park earlier with his family. they got a look at old faithful. he bought his daughter some ice cream cones, a little bit of vacation, but as you know, official business follows this president everywhere, of course, all around the world and issue number one for him is obviously health care. here in colorado, an issue affecting so many people as it does in states all around the country. the president is going to be early. we expect him to start in just a few moments. then he's going to take questions for about an hour from people here, some of the tickets were issued randomly online for people who wanted to sign up. other tickets given out by the white house itself to local officials, community leaders and the like. so there will be a mix of president supporters, some of his opponents as well. as we saw yesterday in montana, he got one very tough question

from a person saying, look, how are you going to pay for this? the person said very bluntly, i think all we're getting is bull, we're nbeing told how this goin to be paid for. you're going to raise our taxes to pay for health care reform and insure the 46 million uninsured. the president didn't back off the fight. he pushed back and said, look, i'm going to keep my campaign promise not to raise tax on anyone under $250,000 a year. but look, you can't get something for nothing. so the president was direct in saying tax are likely to go up for some in order to pay for this initiative, but there's going to be more give and take here, the fact he's having this on the weekend just shows the urgency of this situation for this president. he realizes he ned needs to move quickly to get a deal done, don. >> all right, senior white house correspondent ed henry is there, he's going to be covering this for us. ed needs to get going and listen for the president because we're hearing that the president has arrived. while we're await iing the

president, let's go to our ali velshi, talking with people from your gentleman to iowa and stons in between. today, he is in des moines, at the iowa state far. i'm sure that's a lot of fun. you've been bouncing around on that bus. so don't try the food at the fair, i'm not saying it's bad food, but it could make you sick with all the bouncing around on the bus. >> don, too late for that unfortunately. we were at the missouri state fair yesterday, iowa state fair today. over my left shoulder, we're got fried dwirchgis and oreos and over my right shoulder, it's a cigarette booth, so an ironic setting to be talking about health care. but the same thing here in and missouri, tennessee, kentucky, illinois, georgia, people are talking about this. this is clearly the thing that has aroused emotions in america and as ed just said to you, we're getting mixed response, we're getting those who say it's overdue. they're so behind the administration and the president about getting this done and getting it done fast. and others who saying

overwhelmingly, slow down, what's the rush and how are we going to pay for this. the president yesterday an perhaps today again will discuss his plan to pay for it. there's a lot of concern out there that's the biggest unanswered question, costs. there are other issues, like quality, accessibility, choice of doctor and hospital, but ultimately it's about costs. because if we all had the money to pay for this, it would be a moot issue. so it does come down to how much is this going to pay? we had a dinner party in kansas city on thursday night. everybody there said they support health care but don't want it coming out of their paycheck. they don't want it coming oif their taxes. this is still a hurdle the administration has to dumb in getting their message out about how it's going to be paid for without affecting the tax base for most middle class americans. don? >> all right, ali velshi on the cnn express in des moines, iowa, bring me some cotton candy and really good popcorn back, stick in the overnight. >> will do.

>> ali velshi, thank you for joining us. we've got this covered from the town halls going on across america. people are for it or against it to people who are in the middle, we're covering it all for you. you're not going to miss any of it. also, again, we're waiting the president, the president has arrived in grand junction, colorado. he's going to speak in just a minute. as soon as he comes on stage and starts speaking, we'll bring that to you as well. don't go anywhere we've got it all covered four live right here on cnn.

all right, don lemon reporting live here from centennial olympic park in atlanta. you're looking live at pictures from the president's rare town hall meeting in grand junction, colorado, where he's going to be speaking and taking questions from americans in the audience there. the president can arrive at any moment. don't worry, you're not going to miss any of it. so as we await the president, we want it talk about the truth in all of this. a big question in health care reform debate is whether illegal immigrant immigrants will be covered in the final bill. we'll talk about that thorny issue. jo, what's the verdict on that?

>> the cnn truth squad has been all over that one. we don't know what the final bill is going to be because it hasn't happened yet, but we know what the complaints have been so far. here's an example from a town hall just the other day. >> why is it fair for an illegal immigrant to be eligible for health care over an older american who that has paid tax their whole life? >> this is the kinds of things we've been seeing at town halls held by senators. let me show you the basics here. the truth squad has put together about this of will illegal immigrants be covered under the reform plan? the house bill restricts coverage to citizens and legal residents. i opened up the house bill, right right here on the screen behind me. no federal payment for undocumented aliens. and it goes on to say more about that there's a link to it. i'll show you thousand get there in a minute. let's go to this next graphic. you can see it's there. but the other side, too.

experts are saying that the bill that's being proposed will not get rid of the current problem which is a lot of documented or i illegal immigrants go to hospital emergency rooms to get health care that way. we are being told by experts when they look at this, it's not going to fix the problem. so in essence, they will get health care, but no, this not designed to provide coverage for the illegal immigrants. so the answer is right here, verdict, false. let me tell you, don, and everyone watching out there, any time, you can check out all the latest from the cnn truth squad right here. at cnn.com/healthcare. to bring you to the latest fact check as well as links to the la latest bills. we encourage you to check them out, this is also how you can contact me. i know you're already tweeting. contact me right here at joshlevscnn. i tell you, i've been getting hundreds of requests saying please check out this or that. the truth squad is jumping on a lot of these sent in from you folks. do you think it will be months

before we have some actual legislation? threw go, don. >> you know, i am tweeting right now. thank you very much. >> i'm on the air with you. >> all right, good. you're following me, so we're tweeting and taking our viewers' tweets as well. josh, thank you very much. some of the people, josh, are saying, come on, don, i respect you but now you're you seem right wing today because i'm reporting on an event that happened here, i'm just reporting the news, guy, there's no partisanship in this. that's what we're trying to get out of this whole thing is the partisan fighting because we really all need health care in this country so we can get beyond that, then we all have health care, don't you think? >> that's right. >> so my guests are going to help us through this, organize this event here. we're awaiting the president, pictures there. grand junction, colorado. president barack obama is going to walk at any time. it's all covered.

plus our question, we're going to get to our panel, our experts here and doctors standing by for we'll have your tweet, concerns and questions as well. between consuming less and conserving more. there is one important word: how. and it is the how that makes all the difference. to the planet we all share.

if you're taking 8 extra-strength tylenol...

a day on the days that you have arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number... of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength... to relieve arthritis pain all day.

all right, don lemon reporting here, downtown atlanta where a huge town hall happened not very long ago here, we're talking to the folks who organized it and some of the folks who were there today, take a look at some of the pictures in grand junction, colorado. the person introducing him, is nathan wilkes, his son was born in 2003 with hemophilia, he said he had a job with great insurance but it wasn't enough. i want to bring in our doctors, our two experts here. dr. ronnie whitfield is a family physician, a practitioner in baton rouge, louisiana, a member of the hip-hop coalition.

and also an internist in los angeles. and he derives all of his income from his practice there. one of the questions that came up was about and dr. -- was about the public option, the public option, i want you to listen to one of the people here today, and i want you to comment about it. >> my concern about the health care, the big concern about health care is a government option. that the government option will force the insurers out of the health care business and that there will be only one option for everyone. >> and that's the government? >> and that's the government option. >> you heard that, force the government, force the insurance companies out. what do you think? >> it's going to make the marketplace more competitive and make the insurance companies more transparent. they have profited quite well,

physicians are struggling with paper work and getting preauthorization and reimbursement. it gives the american people a choice. it won't knock them out of the market. i think everybody's fearing that the public option will come in and we will end up with a single payer some. i don't think that the government will allow that to happen. but the public option will make these companies more transparent. gender discrimination won't occur. >> real quickly, we're going to get to the president because he's going to come up real soon. >> the public option is a step to that single payer system. it would put more money into the government side and it would really knock out the private sector. we look at costs, the on average historically, costs of health care five to ten times

estimates. really when you're talking about this is going to be paid for, really should be ten times of what they're saying. it really shows that it's unlikely going to work. >> so you believe it's not going to work. and dr. whitfield says it is going to work. i'm not sure which one is going to work and which one isn't but it's good to hear both sides. the president is in the room and he's about to speak in a little bit. what do you want to hear from the president today? what will help you as a physician and your patients today? >> he's making a lot of sense to me. no discrimination. if you become ill while you're insured, they can't cancel you. president obama is going to use what's working with the private sector and try to fix what's broken and creating a public option. he's said it many times and there's many physicians that do agree with what he's saying, so i'm sure it's not going to be much different than what he said in montana.

he stuck to his guns and i'm just going to allow the people to speak and have them interact and answer questions. >> kent, what do you want to hear? what will help you and your patients? >> the devil is in the details, and when you look at the details, that's when the plan doesn't make sense. so he's not going to look at the details because it won't work when he does. >> let's bring these folks in here as well. i want to say that the president is at the podium. i'm just getting this information from my producer here. we're kind of flying blind here. they're having some audio issues in the room. we'll get to the president and we'll hear all of it, but when you hear about the public option and what have you, what's the concern, virginia that you're hearing from people with the public option. i'm hearing all these people who are against this plan, but if

you don't want this plan, nobody's saying you have to be part of this plan, you can pay for your own plan if you don't want to be part of it? >> and we're hearing concerns, and that is not a concern of the radical right wingers, that is the concern of the congressional budget office. this plan will drive us deeper into debt. >> the president session you don't have to be part if you don't want to be part of the plan, then why --? >> i think name general distrust the government and they are not sure that they can believe everything they are told by the government. and so, perhaps, they feel that they will be forced into this or that their insurance company that they're not happy with that they will be forced by unfair competition. >> what is this notion that you don't trust the government. the people that are out here, ultimately voted the people into office. i said what do you -- i don't feel that people are powerless,

i feel that everybody who has a voter registration card is the most powerful person in the country because you have the right to vote. we're having trouble with the audio in that room. they're working on it so that we can hear the president of the united states as he gives a town hall there. where does this notion come that people can't trust the government? i trust my elected officials. >> do you? >> if i don't believe what they say, then i vote them out. >> but then you have consequences in the meantime, right? >> we all do. >> but these are life and death consequences. the consequences of this legislation can be a matter of life and death for people. and we talked about the euthanasia thing, and we